CityBeat: Barack Obama for President

On March 4, 1933, Franklin Delano
Roosevelt officially became president of the United States. At the time,
the new president faced a massive financial crisis and depression. The
nation had an outstanding 24.9 percent unemployment rate, and faith in
the financial system was nearly nonexistent. But with a Democratic
majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and 64 percent Democratic
majority in the Senate, FDR managed to pass a series of laws within 100
days of inauguration that helped set the economy on track.

Fast forward to Jan. 19, 2009. Barack
Obama officially became president of the U.S. The new president faced a
massive financial crisis, and the U.S. was close to a depression. The nation
had an 8 percent unemployment rate that would eventually climb to 10
percent by October. The financial system was in shambles after being
rocked by a housing crisis and the result of derivative trading that was
far too risky.

Unfortunately, Obama did not have the
legislative majority FDR had. He did have a majority in the U.S. House,
but he did not have the 60 Democrats required in the Senate to break the
filibuster — a procedural tool used to block legislation. Despite that
massive disadvantage, Obama managed to react to the crisis with some
“soft landing” policies that guaranteed the country would not slide into
depression.

In his first year, Obama passed a $787
billion stimulus package that helped boost the public sector to make up
for the private sector’s economic struggles, and he used bailout funds
to rescue the nation’s — and Ohio’s — auto industry.

In his second year,
he passed the Affordable Care Act, a law that reforms the U.S. health
system to make it more affordable and sustainable, and Dodd-Frank, which
reformed financial regulations to help ensure such a terrible financial
crisis never happened again. That same year, he also repealed Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell and continued pushing stimulus policies that ensured the
country would remain in a steady recovery.

Then, in 2012, Obama became the first
sitting president to support same-sex marriage. He also used executive
orders to get past congressional gridlock and enact policies that help
the children of illegal immigrants, who were dragged into the U.S. and
live in fear due to no fault of their own, by creating a path to
permanent residency and even citizenship.

Has he been perfect? Arguably, no. Most
economists argue that while the stimulus helped, it did not go far
enough; in particular, liberal, Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman
previously suggested that $2 trillion in stimulus was necessary to fully
dig out of the recession hole. As Obamacare and Dodd-Frank deal with
unexpected problems and bumps on the road, it’s become clear more health
care and financial reform will be necessary in the future. The deficit
will also become a major problem as the economy recovers. But what Obama
did is start the process of recovery and reform. Here at CityBeat, we believe that process should be continued.

Plus, what Obama started is infinitely
better than the alternative. Mitt Romney still hasn’t explained how his
massive tax cuts will be paid for. He still hasn’t explained why cutting
programs that help the poor and elderly should help pay for programs
that disproportionately benefit the rich. Trickle-down economics should
have been put to rest when the financial system crashed in 2008, but
Romney’s policies do not reflect that shift at all.

That’s why we endorse President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden for re-election.